Some Things Will Never Change
by Frakme
Summary: John has to deal with yet another emergency at 221B Baker Street and has a brief insight into their eventual retirement. JohnLock Fluff with bees.


**A/N John has to deal with yet another emergency at 221B Baker Street and has a brief insight into their eventual retirement.**

_Come home please sh_

_What's wrong? I'm rather busy. You haven't set fire to the kitchen again?_

_No too long to explain come home now sh_

John sighed as he stared at the message. The last time he did this, it turned out that Sherlock couldn't find his laptop charger. John still didn't know why it was in the fridge; instead of asking he lectured Sherlock on what constituted urgent. Sometimes he wondered how someone with an IQ that put him into the top 0.01% of the population could have the emotional quotient of a three year old.

He glanced at the clock; he had 3 more appointments before he finished at six.

_I can't leave now. Be home by 6.30. Don't call Lestrade._

There was no reply. He saw the first two appointments, one a medication review, the second a harassed mother whose baby had developed eczema. In between, he fretted, then was angry with himself for fretting.

A quick word with the practice manager and his last appointment was transferred to another doctor who'd had a last minute cancellation. He kept checking his 'phone on the way home but there was no more messages. A feeling of dread quickened his footsteps as he made his way out of the tube station and down the street.

He practically ran up the steps and through the common door, he couldn't hear any unusual activity, just the telly in Mrs Hudson's flat. But as he approached the door to 221B, he could hear an angry buzzing. Cautiously, he opened the door.

"What the-" he said staggering back. "Where have all the bees come from!"

Sherlock emerged from the kitchen, his pale face even whiter than usual, a sheen of sweat on his brow.

"I… needed… case," he gasped, then held up his hands. They were covered in stings and swollen. The source of the stings was a swarm of angry bees, currently congregating around the ceiling light. Gingerly, John stepped in, dodging the odd rogue bee. He glanced at the kitchen to see a large wooden container, now on its side.

"Jesus Christ, Sherlock, you should've said!" John moved over to the windows, opening them in the hope the bees would escape. No such luck though.

"Come here, you idiot," the doctor said irritably as he gestured to a chair in the kitchen. Sherlock sat and gingerly placed his hands on the table. John moved to the sink, gave thanks for once that firstly, there was soap and secondly, there wasn't any experiments in the sink. He washed his hands thoroughly before sitting himself next to the detective. Gently he took a hand and examined the stings. He winced inwardly as he counted five on the left hand and six on the right. That probably explained the lack of punctuation in Sherlock's normally fastidiously correct text messages.

"It's a good job you're not allergic. Some of these still have the stingers attached. I'm going to remove them and you better not be a big baby about it!" He was rewarded with a pained glare but Sherlock was surprisingly docile as John used a fingernail to carefully remove the stings.

"Keep them!" gasped Sherlock as John made a move to put them into the bin. "I may use them."

Once the doctor was satisfied he'd removed them all, he lead Sherlock to the sink, washing his hands carefully with soap and water. He grabbed a couple of clean tea towels, soaked them in cold water and carefully wrapped one around each hand.

Leading Sherlock back to his seat, he then went to fetch the first aid kit, pulling out anti-histimine cream and ibuprofen.

"I want you to take a couple of these," he said, offering the capsules.

The detective opened his mouth and John popped the first tablet in, which Sherlock dry swallowed. He did the same with the second, before taking a sip from the glass of water John offered him.

John looked up to see the bees were heading out of the window, probably heading for the neighbour's wisteria. He picked up a newspaper and waved it at the few stragglers. Eventually they were all gone, apart from a few dead ones littered on the floor of the kitchen which he swept up, rolling his eyes but acquiescing to Sherlock's request to put them with the stings.

"How are you feeling?" John looked at the other man in concern, checking for any signs of systemic allergic reaction and was relieved to find none. He took the tea towels off, wincing slightly as he saw how swollen Sherlock's fingers were. Gently, he dabbed on anti-histimine cream.

"You are an idiot, you know," he said as he washed his hands again. "And I'm sorry I didn't come home straight away."

"It's quite alright, John," said Sherlock getting up and making his way to the sofa. "I've been stung before so I knew I wasn't in any real danger but it was rather painful trying to use my 'phone."

They sat on the sofa and Sherlock lay down with his head on John's lap, allowing the doctor to run his fingers through the taller man's curly locks.

"So what was the case?"

"It wasn't very interesting except that it involved apiculture. A spat between to two beekeepers in Norfolk. One of them accused the other of sabotaging his hives. He'd won awards for his honey, you see. I expect he won't be happy that I've lost some of his bees but hopefully he'll be pleased that I've found evidence to back up his accusation. I'll send him my conclusions in the morning."

"I didn't realise beekeeping could be so controversial," said John. "Is this something I should be concerned about when we retire?"

"Indubitably, my dear John. We must have some excitement in our lives."

John leaned down to kiss his detective gently.

"You're all the excitement I need."

**A/N FYI I have a 3 year old who is OBSESSED with bees - one of her first words was in fact "bee". As a result she has been stung several times (well she will insist on trying to grab them!), so I've had call to check the advice on how to deal with bee stings. Tweezers are not recommended as they may cause the venom to spread, instead you should scraper them out with a clean fingernail or bank card.**


End file.
